Fashion

After the successful partnership with Highlands Coffee to support pangolins, this time we are working with BOO.vn in order to produce a fashionably T-shirt to help raise awareness and fund for the binturongs – one of the native carnivores in Vietnam.

Binturongs are known for their black, beautiful fur with white stripes which give them a vivid, grizzled look. They also have impressive long tails used to keep balance while climbing. Within several decades, binturongs in Vietnam has witnessed a serve Habitat loss and degradation as well as being hunted for meat, fur and scent glands.

Mr. B and Mrs. B are two lucky ones. The two binturongs rescued by our center in 2007 and 2010 but could not be released since he was kept in captive environment for too long and she had a serious injury in her front paws caused by snare traps. They both were taken care by our keepers and gradually re-gain their strength and normal behaviors such as climbing trees. Now, they are living in the beautiful enclosure area of our Education Center as the ambassador of their species, to help send out the messages about wildlife conservation in Vietnam to thousands of visitors.

Inspired by their stories, we collaborated with BOO.vn to design and produce the Binturong T-shirt to give the young generation a chance to learn more about wildlife and contribute to the conservation efforts some by purchasing.

Officially, the Binturong T-shirt can be found in BOO’s online store or two showrooms in Hanoi (one at 133 Thái Hà, Đống Đa and one at AEON MALL Long Biên). With every purchase, one donated 100.000 VND to help us save pangolins and other carnivores in Vietnam.

Read more

To cultivate a love for nature and raise awareness of natural environment/wildlife protection in Vietnam, Save Vietnam’s Wildlife has organized “Protect The Wildlife We Love” (PWWL) for 900 elementary students aged 8 to 10 in Yen Thuy and Lac Son districts, Hoa Binh province.

“Acknowledging the fact that children aged 8 to 10 enjoy exploring their surroundings by themselves, we designed the Discovery Handbook especially for the program. This brings a great opportunity for the children to play a role as a Plants Researcher, an Animal Researcher or a Forest Protection Ranger. Role-playing will make their learning experiences more fun and practical. As a result, the children will memorize the activities and information longer. After the trip, we hope that they can share what they have learned to spread the message about wildlife conservation with their friends, families, schools, and communities.” Ms. Nguyen Thi Huong Nga, School Programs Team Leader of SVW shared.

The first two trips occurred this weekend with the participation of third-grade students of Yen Nghiep Elementary School. Each trip would take up to 25 students, with the support of two teachers.

From December 2018 till the end of the school year 2018-2019, this program will conduct 30 trips for about 900 students grade 3, 4 and 5 from 30 classes of three Elementary Schools Yen Tri, Yen Nghiep and A Ngoc Luong, in Yen Thuy and Lac Son districts, Hoa Binh province.

Minh Duc, a student of class 3A, Yen Nghiep Primary school shared after the trip: “Today I was an Animal Researcher. I learned about a lot of beautiful animal friends living in the forest. We must not take them out of the forest, because the forest is their home.”

Joining PWWL program, children will have a whole morning full of exciting activities such as visiting the ancient tree, exploring the nature, flora and fauna in the Botanical garden at Cuc Phuong National Park (NP), and taking part in group games. In the afternoon, they will visit Carnivore and Pangolin Education Center to learn about the diverse biology of Vietnam. This is a great opportunity for children to observe wildlife with their own eyes, listen to touching animal stories, and understanding the impact of illegal hunting, trading, captive breeding in Vietnam.

Ms. Tran Thi Thu Hien, Teacher of class 3A, Yen Nghiep Primary School said: “The students were really excited to join in the activities. They constantly asked a lot of questions. I am so happy to see the children show their interests and love for nature. I can see it in the way they saw wild animals for the first time and the way they promised to protect wildlife.”

A month ago, on November 22, 2018 in Cuc Phuong NP, SVW successfully organized a conference to introduce “Protect The Wildlife We Love” program for more than 50 delegates, who are representatives of the Department of Education and Training of two districts; School Boards, Teachers and Parents from three primary schools in the area. After completing 30 trips, another conference will be held to summarize and evaluate PWWL program. We hope this program will become an annual extra-curricular activity of Elementary schools.

From 2018-2019 school year, SVW runs two conservation education programs alongside including: “Valuing Nature in Childhood” Program takes place during weekdays, and “Protect The Wildlife We Love” Program takes place at the weekends until the end of the school year (May 2019). SVW welcome media channels, journalists to visit and document the program to help spread the words about these meaningful programs.

The project was funded by Welttierschutzgesellschaft e.V. (Germany), under the collaboration with Cuc Phuong National Park and Hoa Binh Department of Education and Training.

A series of workshops on ” Discuss about developing economic solutions and raise people’s awareness to protect wildlife in Pu Mat National Park” was held in the three communes, Chi Khe, Chau Khe, and Yen Khe in November, Save Vietnam’s Wildlife in cooperation with Pu Mat National Park continued to hold a two-day workshops on the same topics. These two workshops took place at the People Committee of Luc Da and Mon Son Communes, Con Cuong District on 17 and 18 December.

We welcomed more than 100 delegates and guests from Luc Da commune and 150 people from Mon Son commune, including leaders and staff of the People’s Committee, gatekeepers, and local communities.

Mon Son and Luc Da are poor communes, the living standards are low, transport is difficult and the rate of poor households is high. The people’s livelihoods are mainly based on agriculture, forestry development, services, and livestock. The locals are also facing many difficulties in forest management and protection, mainly due to the complexity of the terrain, extreme weather, not synchronized inter-sectoral coordination, tough local economy, incorrect regulation in handling of violations.

Ms. Luong Thi Hien, Vice Chairwomen of Luc Da Commune People’s Committee said: “We will actively direct the functional departments to propagate, prevent and limit the damage to the lowest level of illegal logging and wildlife trade in the area, following the direction of the Chairman of Con Cuong District People’s Committee in the coming time.”

The workshop provided with detailed information on the current status of wildlife trade and wildlife hunting, raising public awareness about why wildlife protection is needed and the provisions of the law on wildlife protection. An important part of the workshop was the discussion on the constraints faced by local people in developing household and local economies, thereby finding the suitable livelihoods solution and minimizing forest resource exploitation.

We will continuously organize these workshops at some communes of Tuong Duong and Anh Son Districts in the upcoming time.

From 18 to 20 Octorber 2018 , Save Vietnam’s Wildlife in collaboration with Pu Mat National Park and District’s People Committee successfully organized three workshops titled “Strengthening inter-sectoral cooperation in promoting enforcement of wildlife protection in Pu Mat National Park” in 3 districts of Tuong Duong, Anh Son and Con Cuong in Nghe An province.

The morning session’s presentations have delivered to the delegates and guests some background information on the current state of wildlife, the threats they are facing, law enforcement efforts and reasons why we have to protect wildlife. Key highlights of the presentations include:

Pu Mat National Park’s biodiversity is crucial to many endangered wildlife species who should be prioritized for conservation. (Mr. Nguyen Sy Quoc, Science Officer Pu Mat National Park)

However, the situation of snaring, hunting, drying of bamboo shoots, bee-burning, camping, and illegal wildlife trade are currently threatening the habitat of many endangered animals in Pu Mat forest. (Mr. Le Van Dung, Field Research Manager and Daniel Willcox, Science Advisor, SVW).

Social studies have shown that people living in Pu Mat National Park are supposedly dependent on forest resources. According to their opinions, other solutions for their alternative livelihoods should be considered and developed, as well as different campaigns to raise awareness about wildlife and wildlife protection law. (Le Thi Hai Yen, SVW Community-based Coordinator).

Not only does wildlife hunting affect our ecology, health, and economics, but also the culture of the community. The protection of Pu Mat Forest should start from the workshop’s delegates, along with children of Pumat themselves, whose actions must come from one’s conscience and morality. (Mr. Nguyen Van Thai – Executive Director of SVW).

The morning session left many participants speechless with touching stories about the rescued animals’ long journey to return their home. (Ho Thi Kim Lan, SVW Education Outreach Manager).

In the afternoon, the participants discussed solutions to effectively handled illegal wildlife hunting and trafficking activities, promote sustainable economic development and educate people about wildlife protection.

The delegates came to conclusion about key responsibilities in the coming time:

Inter-sectoral cooperation should include the development of an inter-sectoral system, the establishment of a joint patrol group, an inspection plan for restaurants and individuals engaged in illegal wildlife trafficking; as well as strict enforcement of these activities.

Carry out education outreach programs for local communities about wildlife and wildlife protection; boycott restaurants selling wildlife, encourage people to expose and report any illegal activities.

Continue to develop economic development programs, work with local communities to select sustainable model solutions suitable for the local situation, and limit the exploitation of forest resources in Pu Mat National Park.

“Together we stand up for Pu Mat forest” – as in the workshop’s ultimate goal to cultivate conservation efforts and actions in each person.

At the end of the workshop, leaders from the District People’s Committee agreed to sign the workshop’s minutes and propose measures to be implemented in the future.